Citizen Info & Safety

Fire & Life Safety presentation or outreach requestWould you like a Fire & Life Safety program? what about a station tour or have the fire department attend your special event? Click here to fill out our request form.Fire & Life Safety online materials and resourcesThe National Fire Protection Associaiton is a great starting point for most fire safety related information. This is the best starting point for smoke detectors and carbon monoxide. NFPA Public Education

Wildfire continues to be a serious threat to our community during certain environmental conditions. With the mix of homes built in woodland areas, the damage can be catastrophic with an increased likelyhood of serious injury or death.The old saying "Big fires start small" reamins true and most fires in our area are cause by human carelessness. "Fire Control & Prevention" section of the NC Forest Service webpage provides a great starting point for information. Specifically, click on the links under the "Wildfire Prevention & Safety" Section.

For burning brush leaves and branches:Remember this phrase... "The only thing permissable to burn is vegetative material that originated on your property". Clearly, you cannot burn trash, wires, tires, and you also may not burn cardboard or contruction materials.Anytime you wish to burn you must check/acquire these two things:1. Get a burning permit. It is easy and free online GET A BURNING PERMIT ONLINE2. Check whether it is "A Burning Day" with WNC Air Quality 828-250-6777

G.S. 20-137.1(a1) reads as: "(a1) A child less than eight years of age and less than 80 pounds in weight shall be properly secured in a weight-appropriate child passenger restraint system. In vehicles equipped with an active passenger-side front air bag, if the vehicle has a rear seat, a child less than five years of age and less than 40 pounds in weight shall be properly secured in a rear seat, unless the child restraint system is designed for use with air bags. If no seating position equipped with a lap and shoulder belt to properly secure the weight-appropriate child passenger restraint system is available, a child less than eight years of age and between 40 and 80 pounds may be restrained by a properly fitted lap belt only."

Are you interested in reserving the facility?While the priority of the facility is for training of emergency personnel, we also allow some reservations to be made for our citizens for special events. We will typically reserve up to 7 external events per month and avoid reservations on Holidays.Reservations for citizen use is limited to Swannanoa residents and groups.
Citizen reservations may be cancelled at any time for emergency use of the facility.
We strongly welcome and encourage emergency service agencies to train at the facility. These events may bring more training oppurtunity for our personnel or we will be happy to help accomodate your training programs.

Is there a fee?Yes, there is a user fee. We are only trying make sure we cover costs for use of the room. The User Fee covers the consumption of toilet paper, cleaning supplies, electric/water, wear and tear on chairs & tables, floor care and maintenance etc.

What you must do to reserve the facility
1. You must be a resident of the Swannanoa Fire District (The person reserving or who the event is primarily for.)2. Check the Calendar to see if an event already occupies the time frame and resources you need.
3. Fill out the initial information contact & user agreement form.
4. Wait for a contact back from the Deputy Chief. You will not get an immediate response and it may take up to a week.

Fire departments and other emergency service type agencies generally will not have to fill out the user agreement but will be required to follow guidelines for live fire operations or other requirements for training props.